Italian Torpedo Boat Pegaso (1936)

''Pegaso'' was a torpedo boat and an escort aviso of the Italian ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy). She was one of the most successful Axis anti-submarine warships of World War II.

Design and construction

The ''Orsa''-class torpedo boats were enlarged versions of the torpedo boats of the ''Spica''-class with greater range and endurance. Compared to the ''Spica''-class, they had significantly more anti-submarine armaments, with 6 depth charge launchers compared to 2 on the ''Spica'', however they were slower and had fewer naval guns (2 vs 3 on the ''Spica'').

These ships had a total length of 82.5 meters p/p (89.3 meters o/a), a beam of 9.69 meters and a draught of 3.1 meters. They displaced 840 tonnes at standard load and 1,600 tonnes at full load. Their complement was 154 officers, non-commissioned officers and sailors.

The ''Orsa''-class were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving a propeller shaft and using steam supplied by two boilers. The rated power of the turbines was 16,000 hp (11,900 kW) at an operating speed of 28 knots (52 km/h). They had a range of 5,100 nautical miles (9,450 km) at a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h).

Their main armament consisted of two /47 caliber OTO Model 1937 guns. The anti-aircraft (AA) defense of the ''Orsa''-class ships as completed was provided by six 13.2 mm Breda Model 1931 anti-aircraft machine guns in three twin mountings. They were fitted with four torpedo tubes in two twin mounts amidships. The ''Orsa''-class were also equipped with six depth charge launchers and equipment for transporting and laying up to twenty mines.

''Pegaso'' was laid down on 27 April 1936 by the ''Bacini & Scali Napoletani'' shipyard in Naples, Italy. She was launched on 8 December 1936 and was completed and commissioned into the ''Regia Marina'' on 31 March 1938.

Service

In her initial period of service the ship underwent a reclassification: already in 1938, the year of her commissioning, the ship, initially classified as an escort aviso (''aviso di scorta''), was reclassified as a 'torpedo boat' (''torpediniera'').Marina Militare

On 10 June 1940, the date of the Italian entry into World War II, ''Pegaso'' was part of VI Torpedo Boat Squadron at the naval base in Naples, which she formed together with her sister ships , and . Subsequently the formation took the name of XIV Squadron or IV Squadron.

As one of the very few ships of the ''Regia Marina'' specially designed for the task of escorting convoys (and being able to spend long periods at sea), during the Battle of the Mediterranean the ship was heavily used on the naval supply routes to North Africa.

On 2 July 1940 ''Procione'', ''Orsa'', ''Orione'' and ''Pegaso'' escorted from Tripoli to Naples (a return route) two transport ships, ''Esperia'' and ''Victoria''.Battle of Britain July 1940
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On 6 July 1940, ''Pegaso'' took part in the escort of the first large convoy to Libya (named ''Operazione TCM''): setting sail from Naples at 7.45pm, the convoy was made up of troop transports ''Esperia'' and ''Calitea'' (carrying respectively 1,571 and 619 soldiers) and the modern cargo motorships ''Marco Foscarini'', ''Francesco Barbaro'' (added on 7 July after arriving from Catania with the escort of the torpedo boats '' Abba '' and '' Pilo'') and '' Vettor Pisani '' (whose load consisted of 232 vehicles, 5,720 t of fuels and lubricants and 10,445 t of other supplies); together with the four ships of the XIV Torpedo Boat Squadron, the light cruisers '' Bande Nere'' and ''Colleoni '' and the X Destroyer Squadron (destroyers '' Maestrale'', '' Grecale'', ''Libeccio'', and '' Scirocco'').Giorgio Giorgerini, ''La guerra italiana sul mare. La Marina tra vittoria e sconfitta 1940-1943'', pp. 168-452-454-465-466-511-551. The ships arrived unscathed in Benghazi on 8 July.

At 06:00 19 July 1940, ''Pegaso'', with the ships of her squadron, left Benghazi to escort a convoy made up of merchant ships ''Esperia'', ''Calitea'', ''Marco Foscarini'', ''Francesco Barbaro'' and ''Vettor Pisani'' on the return route to Naples. The convoy arrived unscathed in the Neapolitan port, shortly after midnight on 21 July.

On 27 July ''Procione'', ''Orsa'', ''Orione'' and ''Pegaso'' acted as escort for a convoy sailing from Naples to Tripoli during the operation ''"Trasporti Veloce Lento"'' (the convoy was formed by merchant ships ''Maria Eugenia'', ''Gloriastella'', ''Mauly'', ''Bainsizza'', ''Col di Lana'', ''Francesco Barbaro'' and ''Città di Bari''). The escort was reinforced by the arrival of destroyers ''Maestrale'', ''Grecale'', ''Libeccio'' and ''Scirocco'', and the ships arrived in port without damage on 1 August, after evading an attack by the British submarine on 30 July.

On 4 January 1941 ''Pegaso'' was attacked by torpedo bombers when, departing from Tripoli, she escorted the transports ''Ezilda Croce'' and ''Pallade'' off the coast of Cape Bon: the Italian ship escaped the attacks unscathed, arriving first in Palermo (5 January) and then Naples (9 January).

Between 1 and 3 March 1941 ''Pegaso'', ''Orione'' and a third torpedo boat, , escorted a convoy ( steamers ''Amsterdam'', ''Castellon'', ''Maritza'' and ''Ruhr'') from Naples to Tripoli carrying supplies for the Afrika Korps.Royal Navy, World War 2, March 1941
The trip went smoothly.

From 5 to 7 March ''Pegaso'', ''Orione'' and the auxiliary cruiser ''Ramb III'' escorted the return convoy (Tripoli-Naples) of the steamships ''Castellon'', ''Ruhr'' and ''Maritza''.

From 4 to 5 May the ship, together with the destroyers ''Vivaldi'', '' da Noli'' and '' Malocello'' and the torpedo boats ''Orione'' and , escorted from Naples to Tripoli a convoy made up of troop transports ''Victoria'' and ''Calitea'' and the freight ships ''Andrea Gritti'', ''Barbarigo'', ''Sebastiano Venier'', ''Marco Foscarini'' and ''Ankara''.Capture of U.110 and German Enigma, May 1941

On 12 May 1941 ''Pegaso'' left Tripoli as escort, together with the torpedo boats ''Orione'' and ''Clio'', for the steamships ''Maddalena Odero'' and ''Nicolò Odero''. At 20.30 on the same day, off the coast of Tripoli, ''Pegaso'' bombarded a submarine with depth charges, and then saw a large patch of oil emerge. It is possible that the British submarine was sunk in this encounter, although she could also have been lost to mines.

At 04.40 on 24 May she left Naples as escort, together with the destroyer '' Freccia'' and the torpedo boats ''Procione'' and ''Orsa'', with a convoy made up of troop transports SS ''Conte Rosso'', ''Marco Polo'', ''Esperia'' and ''Victoria''. Later the escort was reinforced by the 3rd Cruiser Division (heavy cruisers ''Trieste'' and ''Bolzano'') with destroyers '' Ascari'', '' Corazziere'' and '' Lanciere'', as well as (for a short period of time, they returned to port at 19.10) torpedo boats , and . At 20.40 the British submarine , after sighting the convoy and approaching, launched two torpedoes: they struck SS ''Conte Rosso'' , which sank in ten minutes, dragging 1297 men with it. ''Pegaso'' and the other units of the escort recovered 1432 survivors.

On 26 May she sailed from Naples on escort duty to Tripoli, together with the destroyers ''Vivaldi'' and ''Da Noli'' and the torpedo boats and ''Procione'', the motor ships ''Andrea Gritti'', ''Marco Foscarini'', ''Sebastiano Venier'', ''Rialto'', ''Ankara'' and ''Barbarigo''; despite the air strikes, which damaged ''Foscarini'' and ''Venier'', the convoy reached its destination on the 28th.

On 14 July she escorted from Tripoli to Naples, together with the destroyers '' Fuciliere'', '' Alpino'' and ''Malocello'' and the torpedo boats ''Orsa'' and ''Procione'', the transports ''Rialto'', ''Andrea Gritti'', ''Sebastiano Venier'', ''Barbarigo'' and ''Ankara''. The British submarine torpedoed and sank ''Barbarigo'' at and was then seriously damaged by the counterattack of the escort, while the rest of the convoy arrived in Naples on the 16th.

On 17 August 1941 she served as escort, together with the destroyers ''Freccia'', ''Euro'' and ''Dardo'' and the torpedo boats ''Procione'' and ''Sirtori'', for a convoy made up of transports ''Maddalena Odero'', ''Nicolò Odero'', ''Caffaro'', ''Giulia'', ''Marin Sanudo'' and ''Minatitlan''. The Dutch submarine torpedoed ''Maddalena Odero''; ''Pegaso'' and ''Sirtori'' escorted the damaged ship to Lampedusa but on the 18th the freighter was finished by an air attack (the other ships of the convoy arrived safely in Tripoli on the 19th).Russian convoy "Dervish" August 1941

On 22 August ''Pegaso'' and ''Cigno'' sailed from Palermo to escort to Tripoli the military transport '' Lussin'', the steamship ''Alcione'' (towed by ''Lussin'') and the steam tanker ''Alberto Fassio''; on the same day the British submarine HMS ''Upholder'' torpedoed and sank ''Lussin'' off Cape San Vito.

On 27 August the torpedo boat, after departing Trapani, was sent to reinforce the escort - destroyers ''Euro'' and '' Oriani'' and torpedo boats ''Orsa'', ''Procione'' and ''Clio'' - of a convoy formed by the steamships ''Ernesto'' and ''Aquitania'', the motor ship ''Col di Lana'' and the tanker ''Pozarica'', sailing from Naples to Tripoli. On the same day the convoy was attacked twice by the submarine , which missed ''Pozarica'' but damaged ''Aquitania'' (which had to return to Trapani escorted by ''Orsa'') and then evaded an attack by ''Clio''; the other ships arrived at their destination on the 29th.

On 10 September the torpedo boats ''Pegaso'', ''Procione'', ''Orsa'' and (to which ''Perseo'' was added on the 13th) and the destroyers '' Fulmine'' and ''Oriani'' left Naples escorting a convoy (steamers ''Temben'', ''Caffaro'', ''Nicolò Odero'', ''Nirvo'', ''Giulia'' and ''Bainsizza'') bound for Libya, which on 12 September was attacked by British Fairey Swordfish planes of 830 Naval Air Squadron northwest of Tripoli. ''Caffaro'' sank at , while ''Tembien'' and ''Nicolò Odero'' were damaged; the latter was sunk the next day at by another air attack, after the rest of the convoy had reached Tripoli.

On 29 September ''Pegaso'' and another torpedo boat, ''Calliope'', left Naples to escort steamships ''Savona'' and ''Castellon'' to Tripoli; on 2 October the convoy came under attack by the submarine which unsuccessfully attempted to torpedo ''Savona'' but struck ''Castellon'', which sank at (about ten miles from Benghazi).

On 4 November ''Pegaso'' sailed from Brindisi to Benghazi to escort the steamships ''Bosforo'' and ''Savona'', but four days later, having left the Adriatic, the convoy was heavily attacked by the aviation stationed on Malta: ''Savona'' was damaged and returned to Brindisi, while ''Pegaso'' and ''Bosforo'' temporarily repaired in Navarino, from where they then departed for Benghazi arriving on the 12th.

On 20 November the torpedo boat left Benghazi to escort the tanker ''Berbera'', arriving in Navarino four days later.KMS Kormoran and HMAS Sydney, KMS Atlantis and HMS Dunedin lost, November 1941
On 29 November ''Pegaso'' left the Greek port escorting, together with the torpedo boat , the tanker ''Volturno''; on the same day ''Volturno'' was damaged by the Maltese air force and forced to return to port.

On 13 December, as part of the operation ''"M 41"'', ''Pegaso'' left Taranto on escort duty to Benghazi, together with the destroyers '' Pessagno'' and '' Usodimare'', the motor ships ''Monginevro'', ''Napoli'' and ''Vettor Pisani'' (the ''"M 41"'' was however suspended later).

On 16 December 1941 she set sail from Taranto (operation ''"M 42"'') to escort the convoy "N", composed of the German motor ship ''Ankara'', to Libya, together with the destroyer '' Saetta'': after having sailed in a group with the convoy "L" bound for Tripoli (3 motor ships and 6 destroyers) on the 18th the two ships, off the coast of Misurata, separated from the formation and headed for Benghazi.

In April 1942 ''Pegaso'' was most probably responsible for depth charging and sinking the British submarine ''Upholder'', which has posed a persistent threat to the Italian convoys. At 16.00 on 16 April 1942, ''Pegaso'' under the command of corvette captain Francesco Acton, received a report from a CANT Z.506 seaplane of the 170th Squadron of the 83rd Maritime Reconnaissance Group based at Augusta, who claimed to have sighted a wake likely caused by the periscope of a submarine.The sinking of the British submarine Upholder

''Pegaso'' then attacked, reporting that she had sunk ''Upholder'' at position . Some recent research indicates that the pilot of the plane had realized that the wake did not belong to a periscope but to a school of dolphins and that the hunt of ''Pegaso'' was in a wrong location. This research claims that the submarine was sunk by German aircraft on 14 April or was lost on a mine between 11 and 12 April instead.

On 4 July 1942 ''Pegaso'' was escorting a convoy of three merchant ships in the Gulf of Sirte when the latter was attacked by the British submarine : no ship was hit, and likewise the torpedo boat, despite a strong counterattack with depth charges, failed to hit the enemy submarine.

At 12.30 on 6 August 1942 ''Pegaso'' was escorting a convoy about thirty miles southwest of the islet of Gaudo (Crete), when one of the planes of the air escort was seen from aboard the torpedo boat to strafe the sea surface; four minutes later ''Pegaso'' detected a submarine under water and then made seven passes, throwing depth charges and finally losing contact: the probable result of this action was the sinking of the British submarine , at position , with no survivors.

On 19 October ''Pegaso'' (under the command of lieutenant Gian Luigi Sironi) was escorting a convoy from Naples to Tripoli when, at 12.58, the steamship ''Beppe'' was torpedoed either by the British submarine or by aircraft. ''Pegaso'', while the attack was still continuing, towed the struck ship to Pantelleria, taking it to the protection of the anti-aircraft batteries; at that point, however, a torpedo bomber appearing from behind the hills of the island sank ''Beppe'', frustrating all the efforts made.

In 1943 ''Pegaso'' was reclassified as an escort torpedo boat. The ship was also equipped with three 20 mm Scotti anti-aircraft machine guns, bringing her total AA armament to eleven.

On 20 February 1943 ''Pegaso'' was sent to reinforce the escort of the tanker ''Thorsheimer'' (loaded with 13,000 tons of fuel) and the steamship ''Fabriano'' (with troops on board and 1700 tons of provisions and ammunition), which left Naples for Biserta with the escort of the torpedo boats and ''Orione''. At 19.40 on that day the convoy avoided without hits an air attack by bombers, but during the subsequent stop in Trapani a night air attack hit ''Fabriano'', forcing her to stay in port. The tanker with the three escort torpedo boats left again in the morning of 21 February but immediately after the departure it was machine-gunned by airplanes, with the commander fatally wounded but no serious material damage; then a strong escort of 14 aircraft arrived to help (10 fighters of the ''Luftwaffe'' and 4 seaplanes of the ''Regia Aeronautica''). At 14.25, about twenty miles south of Marettimo, the convoy was attacked by 8 British bombers, escorted by 12 fighters: hit by two bombs (one of which, however, was a dud), ''Thorsheimer'' was immobilized with fire on board. ''Pegaso'' and ''Animoso'' provided assistance to the stricken ship, while ''Orione'' recovered her crew and then headed to Trapani; at the same time two tugs were sent from Trapani to tow the tanker. During the wait, however, around 20.00, a formation of torpedo bombers attacked ''Thorsheimer'': after a violent battle in which three Allied (two torpedo bombers and one escort fighter) and two Axis (one German Ju 88 and one Italian CANT Z.506) aircraft were lost, the tanker was hit by one or more torpedoes and exploded.

On 3 March during an escort with the sea state 8 off the coast of Favignana, ''Pegaso'' accidentally rammed the corvette ''Antilope'': in the collision both ships were damaged. ''Pegaso'' first returned to Trapani, then, after emergency repairs, was transferred to Venice, where in April 1943 her bow was replaced (using the parts of a corvette under construction in Monfalcone); during these repairs her hydrophones were also removed (transferred to the corvette '' Folaga'').

In September 1943 ''Pegaso'', under the command of frigate captain Riccardo Imperiali, served as squadron leader of the La Spezia Torpedo Boat Group, which also included the torpedo boats , , ''Orsa'', and ''Orione''.

Armistice and her fate

After the armistice announcement, in the early morning of 9 September 1943, the ship, under the command of frigate captain Riccardo Imperiali, set sail from La Spezia together with ''Orsa'', ''Orione'', ''Ardimentoso'' and ''Impetuoso'', followed, at one hour's distance, by the rest of the battle squadron (battleships ''Italia'', ''Vittorio Veneto'' and ''Roma'', light cruisers '' Attilio Regolo'', ''Eugenio di Savoia'', ''Montecuccoli'', destroyers '' Artigliere'', '' Fuciliere'', '' Legionario'', ''Carabiniere'', '' Mitragliere'', ''Velite'', '' Grecale'', '' Oriani'') heading for La Maddalena. The departure took place so quickly that the supply staff of ''Pegaso'' remained on land. At 08.40 the five torpedo boats sighted the main squadron (which was also joined at 06.15 by the cruisers '' Duca d'Aosta'', '' Duca degli Abruzzi'' and ''Garibaldi'' and the torpedo boat ''Libra'', coming from Genoa), placing themselves in the van with respect to it, and at 10.30, following the sighting of German reconnaissance aircraft, they came alongside it and started to zig zag. Meanwhile, around 09.00 on ''Pegaso'' a technical problem had put the VHF radio out of service, which caused her to lose contact with ''Orione'', ''Libra'' and ''Ardimentoso''. Shortly after midday the torpedo boats arrived in the waters facing La Maddalena but at that point ''Pegaso'' received a Morse code signal from the Cape Testa maritime signal light that the base was being occupied by the Germans; the boats therefore had to reverse course together with the rest of the fleet and headed north of Asinara. At 15.15 the formation was attacked by German Dornier Do 217 bombers: first the battleship ''Italia'' was slightly damaged (by a bomb which splashed near her hull), then, at 15.42 the battleship ''Roma'' was struck by a Fritz X guided bomb which, having gone through all the decks, exploded under the keel causing serious damage including a leak in the hull, damaging anti-aircraft guns and putting an engine room out of service (which reduced the ship's speed to 16 knots); ten minutes later a magazine on the same ship was struck by a second bomb: devastated by a colossal explosion, ''Roma'' capsized and sank in 19 minutes, breaking in two and taking with it 1393 men.Associazione Regia Nave Roma
.

At 16.09 ''Pegaso'', ''Impetuoso'' and ''Orsa'' were sent to rescue survivors, together with the destroyers ''Mitragliere'', ''Fuciliere'' and ''Carabiniere'' and the cruiser ''Attilio Regolo''; ''Impetuoso'' recovered 47 survivors, ''Orsa'' and '' Pegaso'' 55, ''Regolo'' 17, and the three destroyers rescued a total of 503 men. After searching in vain for more survivors, the three torpedo boats set course for the northwest, but were attacked at 19.00 by a group of German fighters and bombers, which machine-gunned and bombed them: maneuvering at high speed and firing all their anti-aircraft guns, the three ships, after narrowly avoiding several bombs, came out almost unscathed from the attack at 20.30. ''Pegaso'' and ''Impetuoso'' shot down three or four German aircraft with their own machine guns, depleting their anti-aircraft ammunition to less than half. On ''Pegaso'' four German sailors were assigned to operate a quadruple machine gun and had to fire at their own aircraft. The columns of water produced by the bombs that ended up in the sea often poured onto the ship, flooding the boiler room through the ventilation pipes. In the following hours the three torpedo boats, left isolated and without orders, tried to rejoin the Italian squadron without knowing where it was and unsuccessfully tried to rescue the destroyer ''Vivaldi''. During this time, both ''Pegaso'' and ''Impetuoso'' repeatedly requested information via radio from ''Supermarina'' (the Italian navy headquarters) and the other units of the squadron but did not receive any response. At 01.30 on 10 September, ''Pegaso'' and ''Impetuoso'' set course for the Spanish Balearic Islands, following ''Orsa'' which headed there after almost running out of fuel. At 07.50 a German scout plane was sighted, and at 08.37 a message was received from ''Supermarina'' ordering the ships to sail to Bona, Algeria, but given the delay in communication (which made the validity of the order uncertain), the presence of seriously wounded on board and the fact that they had now reached Minorca, the captains of the two ships decided to continue on their way, and at 11.15 they headed into the bay of Pollença.

Scuttling

After disembarking the wounded at Pollença, between 00.00 and 02.00 hours on 11 September ''Pegaso'' and ''Impetuoso'' set off to scuttle themselves: the captains of the two ships, frigate captains Riccardo Imperiali di Francavilla and Giuseppe Cigala Fulgosi, in agreement with their crews, had taken this decision to avoid having to hand over the ships to the Allies (as a consequence of the foreseeable internment on the Balearics) or to the Germans. The torpedo boats stopped in the middle of the bay, then, with the crews reduced to a minimum (17 men on ''Pegaso'' and 10-11 on ''Impetuoso''), they continued until they reached deep waters over a hundred meters, sufficient to prevent a recovery of the two ships; then - between 05.00 and 06.00 hours on 11 September 1943 - they raised the combat flag, destroyed secret documents and opened portholes, shutters and sea cock valves (another measure adopted on ''Pegaso'' was to pour all the fuel left into the storage tanks on the port side, in order to increase the list), after that the captains and the men remaining on board took their places on the only two lifeboats left. After about an hour ''Pegaso'' and ''Impetuoso'' sank, stern first, one after the other: ''Pegaso'' disappeared below the surface, listing to port, dipping the stern and raising her bow (which broke at the level of the bow cannon, more or less where it had been placed a few months earlier). The sinking took 56 minutes. The lifeboat from ''Pegaso'' was towed to shore by a Spanish fishing boat.

The crews of the two ships were interned for ten months by the Spanish authorities of the Balearics, being forced to work with little food.

The wreck of ''Pegaso'', already identified for the first time by a fisherman in 1986, was found and identified in 2001. The ship lies on the seabed at the depth of 95 meters, lying on the port side, oriented at 160°, with the forward area and the far stern severely damaged.

References

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World War II torpedo boats of Italy
Ships built in Naples
1936 ships
Scuttled vessels
Torpedo boats of the Regia Marina